Week in Review: The Only Country With a Dream

“America,” says Dr. Ben Carson in a new Goldwater Institute video, “is the only country that has a dream.”

In this season of giving thanks, we’re grateful for the American Dream—the opportunity to succeed and make something of your life, no matter who you are or what you look like. And our work to defend the American Dream would not be successful without the courage and determination of all Americans who stand firm against the tyranny of government.

To each and every one of our supporters, clients, and advocates, whose courage and commitment to liberty are essential to our mission, we say thank you. Dr. Carson put it best: “You really can’t be the land of the free if you’re not the home of the brave.”

Read more here. 

Taxpayer-Funded Luxury Splurge

A $42,000 hotel bill for a taxpayer-funded vacation at a four-star resort. A staggering $22,000 in catering costs for 30 people…over just two days.

This week, the Goldwater Institute revealed how the Tolleson Union High School District in Avondale, Ariz., blew through $76,969 in taxpayer money on what amounted to luxury vacations. School board members and administrators pampered themselves on the taxpayers’ dime, even as the costs for these four-star resort retreats came out of the same funds that pay for teacher salaries and education programs.

If public officials aren’t going to take their mission to serve the public seriously, they should be held accountable so that government of the people, by the people, and for the people can flourish.

Read more here. 

Wake-Up Call

Arizona just sent the nation a major wake-up call on homelessness, Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Enough is enough.

“Arizona voters overwhelmingly adopted Proposition 312, a first-of-its-kind law that forces local governments to compensate property and business owners for damage created by the homelessness crisis plaguing many cities,” Riches says. Designed by the Goldwater Institute, Prop 312 provides a simple mechanism for residents to get their tax dollars back when the government fails in its most basic duties. And it could change how cities around the country address homelessness.

“Proposition 312 should be a wake-up call for elected officials forcing law-abiding businesses and residents to pay the price for a crisis they didn’t create,” Riches concludes. “The message to politicians couldn’t be clearer: Do your job. Enough is enough.”

Read more here.